On Friday 27 February, Big Think partner PwC hosted its second global webcast focused on the question, ‘What would you do if you were not afraid?’ The webcast was part of ‘Aspire to Lead: The PwC Women’s...

How Talking to Yourself Makes You Smarter

Mental and vocal monologues are essential in learning and performing better in life. Researchers have identified that talking to yourself is insanely great for the brain. The better you are at self-talk the better off you will be. When you give yourself mental messages whether out loud or in the mind, it enhances your attention span—allowing you to concentrate despite distractions. It helps to regulate your decision-making capabilities, and to control how you respond to your brain's emotional and cognitive processes. According to researchers, the most beneficial forms of self-talk are with instructional and thought and action. Instructional self-talk is when you tell yourself each step you need to take in order to complete something while in the process, such as driving a car. Thought and action is the act of setting a goal for yourself and a strategy as to how to accomplish the goal before taking action.

What’s the Big Idea?

Start talking to yourself to increase the performance and function of your brain. It is crazy not to talk to yourself because you would miss out on the benefits that come with self-talk. The key is to practice doing it until it becomes natural. You can use specific “cue words” in your self-talk to help you in whatever goal or task you would like to complete. Eventually, you will learn how to self-talk in a way that benefits you the most in every situation.